


Blood and Crystal

by orphan_account



Category: The Dark Crystal (1982)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 11:28:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1385956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Forbidden Fruit," and a retelling of the events of the movie from skekEkt's perspective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Forbidden Fruit](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1320094) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



The Emperor did not appear before the Crystal that day, and they all understood the portent of his absence.  SkekSo was always there, _always_ , to replenish his energy from Thra's triplet suns, just as he always made time to visit skekTek's laboratory to receive the essence of the slaves.  But noon came on that day, the greatest sun reached its apex, and skekSo was not there.

Even skekEkt, who had no pretensions to the throne and to whom politics were merely an inconvenience that interfered with his sewing, understood.  As the sun's rays fell upon the Crystal, as they were refracted into eighteen beams, only nine of which now touched Skeksis eyes, he knew that today, skekSo would die.

The thought filled him with dread even as the refracted light brought a breath of new energy to his tired, wasted form.  Some of the other Skeksis gave toothy smiles of pleasure as they basked in the Crystal's glow, but skekEkt only stared grimly forward, his own mouth turned down around the protruding fangs he had long since given up trying to hide.  SkekSo was going to die, and that meant a new emperor must be chosen.  There were only two likely candidates.  One was skekUng the General, of a faction opposing skekEkt's; abusive skekUng who held the Ornamentalist in disdain.  His seizing of power would be distressing, for it meant skekEkt would lose much of the privilege and favor he had garnered under skekSo's rule.

The other candidate was skekSil the Chamberlain, one of skekEkt's own faction, and his rise to power would be far worse.

SkekEkt's pupils, rimmed by an icy, sky's-edge color, were fixed on the Crystal, not daring to leave the beam of light that reached him for fear that he would lose even the tiniest amount of its energy.  Still, out of the corner of one eye, he could see the doughy figure of skekAyuk the Gourmand.   He could imagine well enough the expression on skekAyuk's face, a face which somehow never quite managed the cruelty etched in the visages of the others.  SkekAyuk, skekEkt knew, would be watching the Crystal hungrily, exactly as he watched a morsel of food (even if said food were still alive).  Greedy, gluttonous, but not cruel, an expression that most of the others scorned.  SkekEkt knew he should have scorned it too, for its crudeness if not its lack of cruelty-- but the greed, the longing reminded skekEkt of how skekAyuk looked at _him_ sometimes, and that brought a warmth to his body far stronger than any provided by the Crystal.

The ceremony was cut short that day by dark clouds obscuring the Great Sun.  It was symbolic, skekEkt decided; he took some melancholy pleasure from the fact that he could recognize symbolism where most of the other Skeksis could not.  As Ornamentalist, he lived and breathed symbolism, after all.

Lunch, which followed the ceremony, was a more subdued affair than usual-- even the most voracious eaters cast sidelong glances at skekSo's empty chair from time to time.  Only the Podling slaves behaved normally, unaware of anything beyond skekAyuk's orders given around mouthfuls of food.  (Normally, the Podlings feared only skekNa the Slave Master, but where food was concerned, skekAyuk was the greater tyrant.)

SkekEkt felt the usual ravening, gnawing hunger shared by all the Skeksis, but his stomach was knotting for entirely different reasons.  He carefully wiped his eating utensils on his napkin (not his clothes as skekShod, who sat beside him, did) and tucked them away in his robes long before the meal was finished.  He stood to go, and before he had even stepped away from the table, skekShod and skekZok, on his other side, were squabbling over his abandoned plate.

No one else seemed to mark skekEkt's leaving he brushed past skekAyuk, who sat at the end of the table.  The Gourmand looked up, distracted from his meal amazingly enough.

"SkekEkt--" he mumbled questioningly through a bite of meat.

"Hsst!" skekEkt snarled in reply, an injunction to keep silent.  It proved to be a tardy injunction, for a suspicious look back at the table showed him that the Chamberlain was watching them.  Even though the din of the meal made it impossible to hear, skekEkt could well enough imagine skekSil's thoughtful, taunting whimper.  _Hmmmmmmm_.

\--

But not even fear of the Chamberlain could keep skekEkt away from the kitchens that afternoon.  He paced in his room until he was sure that the others had finished eating and that skekAyuk had returned to his domain in the lower level of the castle.  Then skekEkt slipped through the spiraling halls as stealthily as he could, taking a route through the less-traveled parts of the castle and watching for skekSil all the while.

He made it to the kitchens without being observed, at least as far as he knew-- skekSil was a master of spying, after all.  SkekEkt heaved open the carven door with an effort and was assaulted by the heat and steam of the cooking pots, along with a smell of food that turned his stomach.

The Gourmand was shaking spices into one of the offending pots; he glanced up at skekEkt's entrance, then harrumphed and glared into his pot instead.

"You're not afraid of being seen here?" he rumbled as skekEkt approached him, once he was sure the heavy door had closed.  "It's broad daylight."

"Hmph, don't be like that," skekEkt squeaked.  "You know why we have to be careful."

"Because that whining Chamberlain might tattle on us," skekAyuk rolled his eyes.  "You worry too much, skekEkt."  He rested his ladle inside the pot and turned to face the Ornamentalist.  "And you've let him blackmail us for far too long!  So what if he tells all of Thra that we're lovers?"

SkekEkt winced at the word's implications, even as his traitorous heart thrilled at them.

"It's a weakness!" he screeched.  "The others might use it against us!  Like if they threatened to harm you, they could-- could make me do anything!"  He broke off his tirade suddenly, feeling unnaturally hot blood rush to his face.

"Hmph."  SkekAyuk turned back to his pot, although skekEkt saw his drawn mouth working.  "They wouldn't-- they need me.  And if they threatened _you_ , I'd just quit cooking for them.  Problem solved."

SkekEkt despaired at making skekAyuk, the closest thing possible to a practical Skeksis, understand.

"But-- it just isn't. . . we aren't supposed to--"

SkekAyuk impatiently dropped the ladle again, but this time he grasped the Ornamentalist's arms and tugged him closer.

"Shut your beak and listen to me for once.  It doesn't matter what we're 'supposed' to do-- in a few days, after the Great Conjunction, we'll be strong again, and we won't need the others anymore."  He grinned up at the taller Ornamentalist.  "We'll live forever, and nothing they do can change that."

SkekEkt was tempted by skekAyuk's words, tempted to abandon his worries in dreams of life after the long-awaited Conjunction.  He would be young again, his skin smooth, his hair thick, his body elegant rather than ungainly as it had become in the past thousand years.  _I'll be beautiful again. . . beautiful for him._

Still, his worries persisted.

"But the Emperor. . . ." skekEkt fretted, flapping his hands uselessly before resting them on skekAyuk's shoulders.

The Gourmand's grin wilted into a frown.  "What about him?"

"SkekAyuk. . . he's dying.  He's-- he's as good as dead!" the Ornamentalist wailed.  "He won't live through the day, not after missing the ceremony."

"And why should that matter to us?" skekAyuk persisted stubbornly.

"Ooogh!"  SkekEkt clenched his shoulders, digging his claws into skekAyuk's collar.  "You blind oaf, you _know_ who will be the next Emperor-- either skekUng or skekSil.  SkekUng would be bad enough, but if skekSil seizes power--"

SkekAyuk let go of his arm, only to transfer his grip to skekEkt's beak, holding it shut.  "He won't.  He's sneaky, but sneaky won't put him in the throne.  SkekUng'll be Emperor.  I know he doesn't like us," he added as skekEkt made a muffled sound of protest, "but he'll be too busy gloating the next few days to notice us as long as we don't cross him.  And after the Conjunction, it won't matter."  He let go of skekEkt's beak when he saw that the Ornamentalist had fallen silent, then stroked his pudgy thumb up and down its length.

"We can leave," skekAyuk whispered, as if, despite his bravado, he feared even the mindless slaves overhearing.  "We'll be immortal like-- like we were before, and we can live anywhere in the world. . . you and me."

SkekEkt's objections withered on his tongue, and he meekly rubbed his beak against the Gourmand's hand.  He still worried, but as usual, skekAyuk had managed to quiet his latest tirade.

"Trust me," skekAyuk punctuated his declaration, drawing skekEkt's head down.  SkekEkt bent his neck, even smiling faintly as he felt the pressure of the shorter Gourmand's forehead resting against his.

"I trust you," skekEkt muttered shrilly.  "Just you."

\--

SkekEkt left the kitchens for skekSo's chamber, intending to visit the Emperor in the hopes of convincing himself that skekSo might live until the Conjunction.  However, on the way he was met by a dismal troop of Podling slaves sent to summon all the Skeksis to the Emperor's bedside.  SkekEkt's spirits fell once more.

SkekUng and skekSil were the last to arrive.  They finally entered at the same time, after the others had already gathered around skekSo.  SkekEkt heard skekUng roar "Quiet!" at the whimpering Chamberlain; for perhaps the first time, he could agree with the General.  He, along with the wizened Historian skekOk,  turned to watch the two enter, but the others' attention remained focused on skekSo until skekUng rested his hands on his hips and growled.

"They look like they're ready to snatch the staff from our poor Emperor's hands at this very moment!" skekEkt whispered to skekOk.  The Historian gave no reply, possibly because skekUng and skekSil were ambling into hearing range.

As they gathered closer to the Emperor's bed, skekEkt glanced at skekAyuk, who had positioned himself at skekSo's right hand-- something else that might have been symbolic, had skekAyuk cared about becoming the next Emperor in the least.  SkekTek the Scientist waited at skekSo's left, attending to the ill Emperor, and as skekEkt watched, the Chamberlain edged closer to that side as well.  All of skekSil's attention seemed to be focused on the Emperor, but skekEkt avoided skekAyuk just in case, letting the Treasurer remain between them.

"He is not dead yet, my Lord Chamberlain," skekTek hissed, making room for skekSil to take his place at the Emperor's bedside.

"Hmmmmm," skekSil replied.

"Kneel!" snarled skekUng, apparently trying to garner a last iota of favor out of skekSo.  "Bow!"  The others gave him rather skeptical looks but followed his example as he lowered his bulk to the floor.  Only skekSil did not bow.  Instead, he took the opportunity to reach for the scepter of the Emperor.  Immediately, skekSo sprung to life, though in  a horrid sort of parody of his former self.  
  
"Mine!" he cried from his desiccated beak, snatching at the staff.  " _Mine_!"

This time, skekSil did bow in a simpering curtsey, _hmmmmm_ ing all the while.

"Raah!" skekSo growled for good measure, then he suddenly turned on the others who had leaned forward to watch the altercation.  "Back!"  The nine startled Skeksis drew back; skekZok's mouth even fell open at the sudden display of effort.

"I--" rasped skekSo, opening his grey-green eyes wide as he struggled to speak.  "I-- I. . . am. . . still. . . Emperor!"  Between skekOk and skekShod, skekEkt put his jeweled hand to his chest then leaned forward in a half-bow, cringing inside even as he did so.  He had never seen anything so pathetically hideous as what must be skekSo's death throes.  _And if we're all wrong, if the Conjunction **doesn't** heal us-- this is what we have to look forward to.  I'll die like this-- like **this**!_

"I-- I--" skekSo tried to continue, but the expending of energy had destroyed him.  His words turned to a garbled hacking, then even that became only a whimper.  The Emperor's beak opened wide in agony, then he collapsed on his pillow, motionless.  As his twitching arms stilled, the Chamberlain smiled.

"Hmmmmmmm."

SkekZok and skekUng looked at each other, rumbling questioningly, though skekEkt wasn't sure whether their murmurs were over the Emperor or the Chamberlain.  SkekEkt forgot all about the others, though, when a strange snapping noise came from skekSo's corpse.

For a moment, he thought that skekSo might live yet, that it was some kind of ruse to test their loyalty-- but then, he realized just what the snapping sound had been: skekSo's lower jaw had broken of its own accord.  What was left of his carapace was brittle, and bits of it fell onto the Emperor's lacy pillow, which skekEkt himself had sewed many trine ago.  That sight alone caused a wave of nausea to sweep over the Ornamentalist, but then skekSo's whole face collapsed, his beak falling in on itself until his head was an unidentifiable pile of rubble.

The watching Skeksis drew back in horror as the process of decay spread rapidly through the Emperor's body, and his nightgown-- also created by skekEkt's delicate hands-- deflated over the crumbled remains.  The nine survivors finally dared to lean in once more when the horrid process was over and only grey dust remained.  Their heads turned, looking to one another for answers, but none came.

\--

Afterwards, they gathered in the throne room, knowing what now had to be done: whatever had caused the fate of the old Emperor, a new one must now be chosen.

"The Emperor is dead," skekUng declared, rather unnecessarily, skekEkt thought.  "Which one of us will be the new Emperor?"  He gestured for skekTek to move closer to him as he spoke.

"Oh, yes, my Lord Chamberlain," skekEkt squeaked to skekSil.  "Time to choose a new Emperor."  As much as he dreaded the thought of skekSil as Emperor, he knew better than to openly shun their long-standing alliance.  On that day of change, it would be easier than ever for skekSil to turn on him-- especially if he _did_ become Emperor.

"Hmmmmm.  It _should_ be me," skekSil cooed, obviously pleased over skekEkt's loyalty.  SkekAyuk, who had been nearby talking with skekOk, glared at the pair and slunk off to the other side of the room.

"Yes, yes," skekEkt and skekOk agreed with skekSil, even as skekUng snarled.

"Not him!" he growled to skekNa and skekTek.  "I must rule!"

Across the room, skekShod-- probably, skekEkt thought, to provoke skekOk with whom he had an oddly devoted rivalry-- declared to skekZok, " _You_ should be the Emperor!"  SkekAyuk watched, mutely aligning himself with those two.

"There's going to be a fight!" skekEkt cried to skekOk, who nodded, opening his narrow beak happily at having so much world-shaping history to record.

"Hmmmmm," skekSil mused, turning to look at the Ornamentalist and the Historian.  "It's time to make my move."  He looked pointedly at the faction of skekUng, even as the General declared, "It's me!"  SkekSil took advantage of the confusion and began sneaking towards the throne.

"We're all with you," skekEkt whispered after him even as skekAyuk turned to glare daggers at the Chamberlain.  SkekUng noticed skekSil's move and started after him while skekZok stared at the altercation with eyes whose vivid blue was the only color in his aged face.

"Chamberlain, no, stop!" he boomed, hurrying after skekSil.  "You can't!"

SkekSil rounded on the Priest.  "Get back, spit-head!" he snapped.  He was still smiling, but now instead of a simpering smile of submission, it was cold, full of triumph.

"Hunh?"  SkekZok drew back with his mouth open; skekEkt had to wonder if he were bemused at skekSil's sudden aggression, or at the Chamberlain's bizarre insult.

SkekSil had already turned back to the throne, where skekZok had placed the scepter after skekTek had attended to what remained of skekSo's body.  The Chamberlain closed his claws over the scepter and picked it up.

"Chamberlain!" roared skekUng.  "Lay down that scepter!"  He grabbed skekSil's arm as he finally reached the throne, turning the smaller Chamberlain to face him.  The two snarled and hissed at one another while the other seven waited, breathless.

"I challenge!" skekUng declared.  SkekSil drew back with a short, "Hmm?", blinking his olive-green eyes as if he had really expected to become Emperor merely by taking the scepter.  Then he narrowed his eyes and leaned forward decisively.

"Trial by stone."

SkekUng agreed instantly.  "Trial by stone!" he cried, throwing his arms up.

"Trial by stone!" skekNa echoed.  "Trial by stone!"  He turned some nearby Podlings.  "Slaves, raise the stone!  Get out there, move!"  
  
"Trial by stone!" cried the other Skeksis as they watched.  SkekEkt gladly raised his voice among them: _Haakskeekah_ , the trial by stone, required strength-- and skekUng was far stronger than skekSil.

"Let's pull that rope!" skekNa continued to command, though of course he was doing none of the pulling.  "Come on, slaves!  Pull!"  Despite his cries, the slaves plodded about their work no faster than before.  Still, slowly, the stone was raised from its pit in the floor, along with the scythes meant to cleave it.

SkekUng and skekSil approached the stone and each grasped one of the scythes, lifting them above their bony heads and crying out.  SkekUng's cry was a dull roar, while skekSil's was shrill, piercing.  They clashed their scythes together, then circled one another to the cheers of the other Skeksis.

"I'm taking it!" growled skekSil as they paced around the stone, already chipped and worn from trials past.

"Take the first blow, Chamberlain!" skekEkt urged.  _Yes, weaken the stone with the first blow, so that skekUng may cleave it on the second!"_

"You whimpering worm!" skekUng snarled, poking skekSil in the chest with his scythe.

"Hmmmmm," was all skekSil replied, but he did not move to make the first strike on the stone.

SkekUng drew back his scythe, and with a war cry, struck the stone.  Blue sparks flashed from the contact of stone and blade, but the monolith did not break.  SkekEkt's heart sank; surely that mighty blow had weakened the stone to where it would break on the next strike.  Still, skekUng nodded with satisfaction, and skekTek crowed, "He can't beat that!"

"Let's see what you can do!" another voice from the tumult cried to skekSil, even as someone else urged, "You can do it!"

SkekAyuk had been reveling over skekUng's blow, but skekEkt saw him still and wait nervously as skekSil aimed his scythe against the stone.  The Chamberlain drew back his swing and let his scythe fly with a screech, but it only struck the stone with a dull clank and hardly a spark at all.

"Good hit, Lord Chamberlain!" cried skekOk nevertheless.

"Weak blow!  Weak blow!" argued another.

"General!" skekShod cheered as skekUng aimed once more.  "The General's really mad now!"

"Come on, General!"

"Watch out!"

"Here he goes!"

SkekUng drew back his scythe, roared, and struck. . . and the stone fell to the floor in two pieces, glowing with heat, completely severed from its plinth.  Every screeching, cawing voice fell silent, and skekSil stared at the steaming rock.  The scythe fell from his numb claws, and he drew one hand up to his breast.

"Me, the Emperor!"  SkekUng broke the silence with his cry, followed by cheers from skekTek.  SkekShod and skekAyuk too began to cheer, followed by skekOk who, despite his alliance with skekSil only a moment before, announced, "The Emperor lives!"  SkekSil turned from one taunting face to the other as skekUng surveyed his new subjects through haughty, reddish-brown eyes.  Then, he looked to skekZok.

The Priest understood his first, silent order from the new Emperor.  "Now, by the law, he must pay!" he declared.

The others took no time in extracting the required payment; at the forefront of the menacing crowd approaching skekSil were the Scientist, the Slave-Master. . . and the Ornamentalist.  _I'm free_ , skekEkt thought, grinning as he drew closer to the Skeksis to whom he had been forced to kowtow for so many weeks.  All of skekEkt's worries about skekUng were forgotten; surely skekAyuk was right.  Better for them that skekUng was Emperor.

_And now, my revenge,_ skekEkt thought, hissing at skekSil and menacing with his claws as fiercely as skekNa and skekTek, skekUng's own allies.  _Revenge for keeping me from skekAyuk, for forcing me to make you the most beautiful clothes, for touching me when I didn't want to be touched-- and you won't dare say a word against me now!_ For the first time, he saw real fear on skekSil's face, and he reveled in it.

SkekUng stood back and watched, crowing as the others attacked his opponent.  SkekSil screeched as if in agony, though they were only ripping his robes and jewelry away; still, he cried as if they were rending his flesh.

"Take him now!" someone cried.  SkekEkt grasped the beautiful maroon outer robe skekSil wore and pulled it away, wishing he could destroy the detailed work he had done with his own hands just because it had been done for the Chamberlain.  SkekTek too grabbed at a garment and tossed it over his head in glee.

"Get him!" came another cry.  SkekEkt moved to skekSil's left side and pulled at the intricately striped fabric of the Chamberlain's sleeves; they ripped and were left hanging uselessly from his spindly arms.  SkekEkt leaned forward and pecked savagely with his hooked beak at skekSil's left shoulder, moving so close that he could have embraced the Chamberlain.

SkekEkt drew back, tearing off part of one sleeve.  As he tossed it gleefully asked, he realized that skekAyuk had moved to stand beside him.  The Gourmand was beaming.

"Strip him!" skekShod called, even though that work was mostly accomplished.

"Now let him go!" skekUng interrupted.  "The Chamberlain is banished!"   The other Skeksis backed off of skekSil, leaving him clinging to the wall, naked and panting.  Without his robes, he seemed laughable, his nakedness exposing his prominent rib-cage and equally prominent belly, the scraggly spines and withered, vestigial second set of arms on his back.  SkekEkt knew that they all looked like that, more or less, but that didn't make him any less revolted.

"Away!" the attackers cried, skekEkt loudest among them.  "Away!"

"Now," continued skekUng from where he stood by the throne with skekZok, "bow down to me!"  SkekEkt turned away with the others, hurrying to stand before skekUng with skekAyuk t his side.

"I am Emperor!" roared the former General, raising the scepter.

"Hail to the new Emperor!" they cried, bowing before him.  "Hail!  Hail!"  Even skekZok bowed, a look of strange satisfaction on his elegant face. 

But then a sound more piercing than any of their voices broke through the chants.  They fell silent, looking about them and the noise, familiar but still with the power to stir their blood.

"The Crystal calls!" skekUng cried.  "To the Crystal chamber!"

The others obeyed, urging each other to hurry as they moved to the chamber where earlier they had taken their energy from the Crystal and the suns.  SkekAyuk was one of the first to the Crystal, and skekEkt rushed to join him, peering over his shoulder at the purple-black stone.

SkekUng was the last to arrive, but he snarled at the others until they cleared a place for him before the Crystal; however, his snarl broke off in a cry of surprise when he saw the image projected in the glistening face.  It was of a small figure, less than half the size of the Skeksis, tiny but hardly harmless as it climbed a mountainside.  It filled skekEkt with greater fear, greater revulsion than skekSil ever had.

"A Gelfling, alive?" gasped skekZok.

"A Gelfling!" the others echoed.  "A Gelfling!"  Then their words shifted: "The prophecy. . . the prophecy."

"The prophecy says Gelfling will destroy us!" whimpered skekOk, but skekUng obviously needed no reminding: his eyes widened as he stared at the Crystal in disbelief, in outrage that his reign should begin so.  Ringed by the whites of his eyeballs, his irises-- which made it so hard for skekEkt to find colors to suit him-- looked like tiny pools of dried blood.

"No!" skekUng declared, turning away from the Crystal.  "Garthim!  Attack!  Garthim soldiers, find the Gelfling!"  He was now the Emperor, but he was also still General, still Garthim Master.  The giant Garthim woke, dreams of the Skeksis shaken from their own dreamless sleep, and moved forward, twitching and clicking.

"Garthim, the Gelfling!" skekUng ordered.  "Bring him to the castle!  Garthim, death to Gelfling!"

"Go kill the Gelfling!" skekEkt screeched for good measure.  The Garthim obeyed wordlessly, mindlessly, as the Skeksis continued to examine the image in the Crystal.

"Ugly!" skekOk declared.

"Hideous Gelfling!" agreed skekEkt.  Soon they were spared the sight of the tiny creature, once it climbed out of range of the _xahgniathanor_ , the Crystal Bat who had captured its image.  The Skeksis turned away, drifting back to the throne room where they still fretted over the Gelfling and the prophecy.  SkekUng took his place on the throne, assuring them over and over that his Garthim-- they were always _his_ Garthim-- would easy capture the disgusting, pathetic creature and bring it to the castle where they could destroy it.  The more skekEkt listened, the easier it became to believe those promises.  The Gelfling was tiny and weak after all; the Garthim were huge and strong.  And all the other Gelfling in Thra were dead: how then could the prophecy be true?

In the excitement of the Crystal's revelation, skekEkt had almost forgotten about skekSil.  He glanced at the wall where the Chamberlain had been attacked, but skekSil was long gone.  He had left only his outer robes behind, which skekEkt went to gather up; no use letting good fabric go to waste.

Their fears at least somewhat calmed, the Skeksis began to drift away from the throne room, going to their own work and pleasures before dinner.  SkekAyuk left for the kitchens, smiling at skekEkt as he went.  There was some bravado in that smile-- an "I told you so" over skekUng's ascension to the throne-- but there was tenderness too.  SkekEkt hurried to his own room to store the remains of the Chamberlain's clothing, then he made his way to the kitchens for the second time that afternoon.


	2. Chapter 2

The pots were still steaming when skekEkt returned to the kitchen, and the odor of food was still strong.  Now, however, he didn't mind-- the meal even smelled appetizing.  He found skekAyuk in the back of the kitchen, trailing sleeves tied up as he faced a recently dead Nebrie with a large knife.

"Roast Nebrie for dinner?" skekEkt asked hopefully, even as he tried not to look at the raw carcass.

"Indeed."  SkekAyuk hesitated, then thrust the knife at some of the slaves.  "Gut Nebrie!" he ordered, gesturing at the carcass, then he took skekEkt's arm and led him to a more appealing part of the kitchen.  SkekEkt was flattered by the small gesture of kindness; skekAyuk knew that while the Ornamentalist enjoyed meat, he preferred not to see it prepared.

"I told you that you worried too much, you ninny," skekAyuk rumbled fondly as they sat down at the large, rough-hewn table at the other end of the kitchen.  "SkekSil's gone, and with this Gelfling problem, skekUng won't even remember we're around."

"Yes, the Gelfling," skekEkt frowned.  "I do hope the Garthim can catch the little vermin."

"'Course they can," skekAyuk grinned.  "Tomorrow night, I'll be roasting you a Gelfling instead of a Nebrie."

"Mmm."  SkekEkt had to smile at that.  "And after the Conjunction. . . what then?"  He wanted to hear skekAyuk's plans again, to hear of them leaving together.  "Where will we go?"

"I don't know," skekAyuk admitted, "but it won't matter.  Nothing will be able to hurt us then, so we could live on top of a mountain if we wanted to!"

SkekEkt cringed slightly at the thought of being exposed to the elements, but skekAyuk's enthusiasm was contagious.  After all, they could worry about the details later, couldn't they?

"I'll be beautiful again," skekEkt cooed.

"Told you before, you already are," skekAyuk mumbled in an embarrassed way.  "But me, I'll be thinner. . . with more hair. . . ."  He looked down at his massive body rather morosely.  "I'll finally look. . . worthy of you."

At first, skekEkt was indignant.  "You mean you think you don't look good enough, even in the garments I made for you?"

SkekAyuk raised his brown eyes to give skekEkt an impatient and miserable look.  "The garments aren't the problem."

Even then, it took skekEkt a moment to understand before he murmured, "Oh. . . .  SkekAyuk, don't be ridiculous!"  He leaned forward and laid his gloved hands on either side of the Gourmand's face.  "I. . . I like you the way you are."  SkekAyuk had looked so sad, and he looked so hopeful now, skekEkt was compelled to press on, "I'd stay with you even if you didn't change a _bit_ after the Conjunction!"

SkekAyuk's blunt face fairly glowed even though he said, "You don't mean that-- you're too vain.  Once you're young again, you won't be seen with anyone but the best."

 _And that's why I **do** mean it,_ skekEkt thought involuntarily, though he hardly dared say it aloud.  Instead he bent his head forward and rubbed the side of his long, bony beak against skekAyuk's short, softer one.  SkekAyuk gave a rumble of affection and returned the gesture, then trailed kisses up the side of the Ornamentalist's beak.

"I have to finish the food," he mumbled reluctantly in between caresses.  "SkekUng will have a fit if his first meal as Emperor isn't perfect."

"All right. . . but come to my room tonight," skekEkt whispered.  It was the first time in many nights he had invited skekAyuk to his chambers instead of going to the Gourmand's-- and it would be the first time in many more that they could be together without fearing discovery.

\--

That night when the Skeksis gathered for dinner, skekUng took skekSo's place in the middle of the table.  With both skekSo and skekSil gone, the table seemed unnervingly empty, but skekEkt tried to look on the bright side: two fewer Skeksis meant more food for the rest of them.

Some of skekAyuk's most trusted kitchen slaves came tottering in, bearing the now-roasted Nebrie surrounded by steamed conchs and root vegetables.  As repulsive as the carcass had been, skekEkt was impressed with the lovely presentation.

"Roast Nebrie, my favorite," skekNa growled.

"Roast Nebrie!" skekEkt squeaked at the same time.  "I want the rare piece!"  Unlike the others, he tried his best to eat daintily, sipping from his wine goblet from time to time.  SkekTek took the more usual Skeksis approach, reaching out to claw something off of the plate of skekShod, who sat to his left.  That was a mistake; no one was more defensive of his possessions than skekShod.

"You slime face!" he snarled, growling and swatting at skekTek.  The Scientist drew back indignantly, as if he were the one who should be offended.  SkekZok glared at them both, then proceeded to take a bite of Nebrie neatly from the eating utensils they all wore on their claws.  The new Emperor paid no attention whatsoever to his subjects, instead concentrating on the small, whole rodent which he held in his hand-- and which he presently dunked head-first into his wine.  SkekEkt shuddered and glanced at skekAyuk instead, then immediately wished he hadn't: the Gourmand had foregone the use of utensils altogether, and his entire blunt beak was buried in his bowl.

The Ornamentalist decided to concentrate on his own food instead, bringing a bite of Nebrie daintily to his beak using his utensils.  He had indeed gotten the rare piece-- being the Gourmand's lover was not without its benefits-- and he savored each bite, cooing and chirping with pleasure as he ate.  It was so delicious, he was even able to overlook skekNa's habit of tearing at a whole Nebrie appendage clutched in his artificial claw and the remainder of the rodent-- declared rotten by skekUng-- pitched across the dining hall.

As the meal progressed, even skekZok gave up pretending to be well-mannered; his mouth was full of blackish-green vegetation as he grumbled, "It seems to me that Gelfling has escaped, eh?"

SkekUng took this as a personal insult.  "No Gelfling ever escaped from my deadly Garthim!" he retorted around his own mouthful of herbage.

"More food, more food!"  That, of course, was SkekAyuk, who cared little for discussing business at dinner.

"Yech," skekUng muttered pointedly, shoving a claw into his beak and grinding away with it.  "Something stuck in my teeth."  It seemed to be a dig at skekAyuk's meal, probably because the Gourmand had dared change the subject from "his deadly Garthim."

SkekEkt glared at him and dealt with his own teeth the proper way, using a long, jeweled toothpick.  "Enchanting meal," he added pointedly.  SkekUng ignored him and dunked his beak in the fingerbowl.  SkekZok gave him a disgusted look, but the new Emperor ignored that too and dried his face serenely on a towel brought by a slave.

"Ah, dessert!" crowed skekAyuk as more slaves appeared with another bowl.  "Crawlies!"  The other Skeksis crooned with delight-- until, to skekEkt's horror, one of the feathered rodents leapt from the bowl and ran down the table in a mad dash for freedom.

"Crawly!"  "Stop it!" cried the Skeksis.  One after another tried to catch it, stabbing at it with his utensils or whacking at it with his staff.  SkekEkt was disgusted at their behavior, but more than that, he was terrified of the runaway; he lived in fear of such a creature biting him or crawling under his robes.  He stood on his chair and shrieked as the rodent ran by, not heeding him in the least.

It was skekAyuk, naturally, who caught the Crawly bare-handed and crammed the thing into his mouth before it had another chance at escape.  "Not bad at all," he declared as skekEkt nervously clambered down from his chair.

SkekZok suddenly turned to the dining hall's great doorway, Crawlies forgotten.  "Look.  The Garthim return!"

"The Gelfling," skekUng murmured to skekTek as the hulking Garthim lumbered in, dragging a burlap sack inside which something struggled: something far smaller than the Skeksis.  SkekEkt looked around nervously, not sure that he really wanted to see the horrid little creature, especially right after eating.  Still, his curiosity kept him there-- and his worry.  Once he saw the captured Gelfling with his own eyes, he could stop worrying about the prophecy.

The Garthim dropped their burden and moved away from it, leaving the sack writhing on the floor in front of the table.

"Release the Gelfling!" skekUng ordered, but the Gelfling seemed to be releasing itself: it stood to its full height and pushed the sack off of itself impatiently.

SkekUng only looked at his captive blankly for a moment, then his beak fell open.  A murmur broke out among the Skeksis, and skekEkt found himself staring at a creature even more hideous than a Gelfling: Aughra the Seer.

"What's this?" skekUng bellowed as the other Skeksis squawked in consternation.

"Fools!" the old woman snapped.  "Skeksis fools!  Whaddya want with me?"

SkekUng slammed his fists down on the banquet table, half-rising from his chair in rage.  " _This is no Gelfling_!"

Aughra gave him the most disdainful look her single eye could manage.  "Of _course_ I'm no Gelfling, you putrid lizards!"  She pointed at the table, turning slowly so that she included every one of them.  "I'll get my eye to you!"  SkekEkt whimpered and turned away from the gaze of said eye: Aughra had never had any use for him, even before the last Conjunction, and while he wasn't exactly sure what her eye might do to him, he was afraid of finding out.

SkekZok was less impressed.  "She was with him!  She helped him!" he growled to the other Skeksis, then he stood and turned the full force of his icy glare on Aughra.  "Where is he?"

"Gone!" Aughra snapped, as unimpressed with the Priest as he was with her.  "Gelfling gone!  Stupid Garthim!"  She marched over to the nearest one and kicked it soundly to emphasis her point.  The Garthim did not react, only sitting stupidly by although the Skeksis drew back in shock.

"You want Gelfling, why not ask me?" she continued to rant, stomping closer to the table.  "Easier to send your crab-brained soldiers, burn my home!"  Aughra leaned on the table, directly across from skekUng who sat glaring at her, SkekZok still standing to his right.  "Now home gone!  Gelfling gone!  Nothing but Aughra!"  She pounded on the table with one bony fist, making the Skeksis jump, then marched down the length of the table, swearing.

"Moldy mildew mother of mouthmuck!  Dangle and strangle to death!"

"Oh, how crude!" wailed skekEkt, holding his beak in consternation and worrying what all the stress would do to his digestion.

"Watch your tongue, harridan," SkekZok scolded her haughtily.  "We are lords of the Crystal!"  Aughra seemed to be more interested in examining a cruet than listening to his reprimand, but then she turned back to him scornfully.

"Lords?  Not for long!" she scoffed.  "What about the prophecy that a Gelfling will end Skeksis power?"  She seated herself on the floor with a grunting effort (still clutching the cruet), then continued her ranting.  "He'll come, make you crawl like the worms you are!"

SkekUng had had enough.  "Find that Gelfling, _now_!" he bellowed to all within hearing range.

SkekZok gathered himself up to his full height and called, "Crystal Bats, fly!  Search the land!  Search the water!  Search the sky!"  At his command, the _xahgniathanor_ detached themselves from their roost at the top of the chamber, scattering for their tiny exits from the castle into the sky beyond.  Disturbed by the chittering bats, the Garthim spun and swatted at the air ineffectually, but at a gesture from skekUng, they regained what little sense they possessed.  By his orders, they led Aughra off to captivity, the old woman grumbling all the way.  SkekEkt rather wished, for his own safety and delicate sensibilities, that they could dispose of her right then and there.  However, skekUng was right: she might prove useful.


	3. Chapter 3

SkekAyuk's knock sounded on skekEkt's door early, just as the Ornamentalist was draining the water from his nightly bath.  SkekEkt sighed and screeched, "Just a minute!", then grumbled as he pulled on his undergarments.

"You know full well what time I finish my bath!" he squawked as he opened the door for the Gourmand, then locked it securely behind him.  "I'm not ready!"

"And _you_ know I like you better when you're not all made up."  SkekAyuk gave skekEkt's beak a pat, then lurched over to the head of the bed, where he sat down heavily.  SkekEkt watched his carefully-smoothed, silken sheets crumple under the Gourmand's weight, but he couldn't even work up a righteous indignation about it.  Instead, he sat down on skekAyuk's left side with a high, whining coo.

"If only the Garthim had caught the Gelfling instead of that vulgar old woman," he lamented.  "Everything would be perfect!"

"They'll find it," skekAyuk reassured him, wrapping one flabby arm around skekEkt's waist and patting the Ornamentalist's bony thigh with the other.

 _Soon, I won't be bony anymore,_ skekEkt thought.  _I'll never be bony again.  We'll be perfect, unchanging. . . ._   And, remarkably, that thought sent a chill through his wasted body.  _But I'm happy like this, with him. . . .  Even if I'm more beautiful then, what if the Conjunction alters this, alters **us**?_   SkekEkt couldn't put his claw on what caused this new worry-- psychology was far beyond him.  He just knew he was scared of change.

SkekAyuk was frowning at him.  "You're still worrying."

"Hmph, I'm only worried about keeping that hag in the castle," skekEkt lied, turning his beak up in the air primly.  "Who knows what trouble she'll cause if she gets free from her cage!  And for that matter, I don't know why skekTek has to keep her in the lab, anyway-- skekNa would do a much better job of making sure she was contained!"

The Gourmand shrugged.  "Dunno.  It's not like even skekTek could get any essence out of _her_ \-- same reason why I didn't ask for her.  It'd be like cooking a rock."  He seemed to be bored with the subject, for he started pawing through the beauty paraphernalia on skekEkt's bedside table.

"Maybe he just wants to torment her," skekEkt suggested after some thought.  "You know how much they hate each other, especially since they used to be friends before the last Conjunction. . . ."

"Mmph."  He got no other response from skekAyuk until the Gourmand held up one of the jars that rested on the table.  "What _is_ all this stuff?"  He pried the lid off with a claw and sniffed it.  ". . . Is it edible?"  
  
"No!" skekEkt snapped, snatching the jar away before skekAyuk could stick his beak in it.  "It's some of my makeup."

"What's in it?  It smells. . . ."  The Gourmand squinted thoughtfully.  "Familiar."

"There are some plant essences and oils in it to give it consistency," skekEkt explained, looking down into the creamy, pinkish substance he spread on his emaciated cheeks to give them the tint of lost youth.  "But the active ingredient is diamond powder.  Well, and blood."

"Blood and crystal," skekAyuk rumbled.  "So the same things that made us powerful also make you beautiful."  He grinned and pulled skekEkt against him, plucking the makeup out of his claws and putting it back on the table.  "So whose blood do you use?  The slaves'?"

"Ugh, no!"  SkekEkt wrinkled the skin over his beak in disdain.  "Far too weak after skekTek sucks the essence out of them.  Mostly it's Nebrie-- skekNa has the slaves collect it when they slaughter the beasts for your meals."

"SkekNa-- pah!"  SkekAyuk reached up to stroke skekEkt's garishly-dyed hair.  "I'll get you far finer blood than he ever could-- tomorrow, when the Garthim bring in that Gelfling, I'll slaughter it myself for our dinner, and give you the life-blood right from its ugly little throat!"

SkekEkt stifled a shudder; Gelfling were disturbing enough without adding the gore of a slaughter into the mix.  Still, he knew skekAyuk meant well, though the Ornamentalist doubted their new Emperor would let the lowly Gourmand have the honor of killing the Gelfling.  Maybe skekEkt would still be able to get the thing's blood though; even after the Conjunction, makeup made from that rare substance could only make him more lovely.

"Thank you," he hissed, wrapping his long arms around the Gourmand's bulky body, made even broader by his heavy robes.  SkekAyuk was the only Skeksis other than the Emperor to whom he'd utter such words; any phrase conveying a debt or dependence showed weakness which he and the others avoided at all costs.  But paradoxically enough, he didn't mind appearing weak before skekAyuk, the one Skeksis whose opinion mattered most to him.  They said words to one another that probably no Skeksis had uttered before.

 _All words but one_ , skekEkt thought as he rubbed his beak against skekAyuk's thick neck in a caress.  _"Love" is too dangerous. . . ._   SkekAyuk fairly purred, then plucked at skekEkt's ribbon until it came loose, spilling his hair down into his eyes.

"I spent a long time on that," skekEkt grumbled in mock annoyance.  SkekAyuk only chuckled and started removing the Ornamentalist's elaborate collar.  He paused to kiss one of skekEkt's vestigial hands, nuzzling the delicate arm with his beak.  SkekEkt shivered and spread his fingers to the Gourmand's touch, even though he normally hated his malformed secondary appendages and tried to forget they existed.  Somehow, skekAyuk made him feel that every part of him was beautiful.

"My sweet little Crawly-dumpling," skekAyuk murmured affectionately, sitting back so that he could kiss skekEkt's beak.  SkekEkt cooed and opened his beak, kissing the Gourmand back.  "Just think-- in two days we'll be immortal," skekAyuk went on in between caresses.  "We can be together forever!"

"I hope so," squeaked skekEkt.

\--

The next morning, skekEkt was awakened by skekAyuk getting out of bed.  It was early-- only the Red Sun cast any light into the Ornamentalist's chamber-- but then the Gourmand always had to rise early to oversee the preparation of breakfast.  Despite his appearance, skekAyuk was far from lazy.  SkekEkt whined in protest and pulled his sheets over his head to block out the sun's liquid red light.

"Go back to sleep," skekAyuk chuckled as he pulled on those of his robes which had been displaced.

"I wouldn't have awakened in the first place if you didn't always make so much noise," shrilled the Ornamentalist indignantly.  Nevertheless, skekAyuk pulled back the sheets to give skekEkt a kiss on the beak before dropping them over his head again.

"See you at breakfast," the Gourmand rumbled as he left.  As always, SkekEkt felt a little depressed after skekAyuk had gone, even though as skekAyuk had said, they would see each other again soon.  SkekEkt griped and nestled deeper under the covers, trying to go back to sleep.  Finally, he scrabbled over to the side of the bed where skekAyuk had slept; the silken sheets still held some warmth from the Gourmand's body, along with his scent: strangely not that of food, but something unidentifiable and comforting.

That day-- the last before the Conjunction-- passed uneventfully, and SkekEkt and skekAyuk spent that night together as well.  SkekEkt lay awake for much of it, listening to skekAyuk's snores and wondering how their next night would be spent, in what form.  _Maybe he won't snore after the Conjunction_ , the Ornamentalist mused hopefully.

After breakfast that morning, most of the Skeksis followed skekUng to the throne room, but skekEkt left the dining hall with skekAyuk instead, accompanying him to the kitchens.  The others all seemed jumpy about the Conjunction, too suspicious of each other and everything else.  Only skekAyuk behaved as usual, and it comforted skekEkt to be with him, answering questions as mundane as what kind of mushroom he'd like with that evening's dinner.

"I like those grey ones that go mushy when you put them on your fork," skekEkt explained as they walked down the corridor towards the lower level of the castle.

"Yes, yes, yes," skekAyuk input agreeably at intervals-- until he suddenly threw up an arm in front of skekEkt as if silencing him.  SkekEkt glared at him; it wouldn't be the first time he had been shushed.  However, then he realized that the arm was meant to be protective as well: skekAyuk was staring at the hunched, raggedly-spined back of skekSil a few meters away in a side corridor.

"Chamberlain!  Chamberlain, get out!" skekAyuk snapped, sounding as stern as he could manage.  "Get out!"

Before skekEkt could even begin to wonder at skekSil's audacity in returning to the castle for the Conjunction, the Chamberlain half-turned to them, smirking over the struggling prize he held clutched in his talons: a female Gelfling.

" _Aghhhhh!_ " skekEkt screeched from the depths of his aged lungs, drawing back with his gloved hands in the air.  Any fears he had about the Conjunction or about skekSil's sudden reappearance were immediately overwhelmed by the horror he felt of the ugly little creature.  "Gelfling!  Gelfling!"  SkekAyuk echoed his cries as they both turned and ran for the throne room.

"Aghhhhh, Gelfling!" wailed skekEkt as they burst in on the other Skeksis.  "Gelfling in the castle!  Help!"

"Come and look!" skekAyuk panted as the two stopped, trembling, before the Emperor's throne.  "Such an ugly monster!"

At first, skekUng did not seem impressed; he exchanged looks with skekZok that clearly stated both questioned the pair's sanity.  But then, a scuffling noise sounded at the entrance to the room which made all eight Skeksis stare.

"Awful, so awful," skekAyuk mumbled miserably as he and skekEkt turned to watch skekSil creep in with the Gelfling.  SkekEkt wrapped his arms across his chest protectively, finally silencing his shrieks.  Now he had time to be frightened: of skekSil, of the Gelfling, of the prophecy.

Both skekZok and skekUng drew back, their eyes opening wide and beaks falling open.  "What?" gasped skekUng as he leaned forward in his throne, looking the intruders up and down.  SkekEkt and skekAyuk moved away to opposite sides of the throne as the Chamberlain approached it with his burden.

"Hmmm, royal sire!" simpered skekSil.  He looked down at the blonde head of the small creature before him almost fondly.  "I bring you. . . Gelfling."

 _Blonde!_ skekEkt thought out of nowhere.  _Such lovely hair on such a hideous creature. . . ._

SkekUng was, for once, speechless.  His red-brown eyes flickered down to the Gelfling, then back up at skekSil as the others mumbled their surprise.

"I!  _I_ have done this!" skekSil cawed, sounding for all the world like the wild blackbirds that used to roost near the castle before the Skeksis' decay spread and tainted the surrounding land.  " _I_ have caught her!  _I_ bring you the Gelfling!"  As he spoke, skekOk, beside skekEkt, leaned closer to examine the captive; skekTek, on her other side, was near enough to touch her as he smirked in satisfaction.

"I was wounded!" the Chamberlain went on, ignoring all but skekUng.  "I suffered horrible, searing pain."

SkekTek, in his turn, ignored the Chamberlain.  He tilted his head and leaned from side to side, studying the Gelfling from all angles, then reached out a gloved hand to her, extending a finger to touch her chin as he murmured, "A live Gelfling!"  The Gelfling's large eyes ( _Pretty eyes too_ , skekEkt thought, _trapped in that snub-nosed little face!_ ) widened, and she squeaked in protest, turning her head away at his touch to hide her face in her captor's sleeve.  Apparently she found even skekSil preferable to the Scientist.

"Kill her!" roared skekZok abruptly, brandishing from his robes a small dagger that was supposed to be merely ceremonial.  "We are sworn to kill all Gelflings!"  SkekUng gave the Ritual Master a deadly look for daring to usurp his authority by giving an order.

"No!" shrieked skekSil, pulling the Gelfling back against him and drawing her away from the throne, even as she struggled.  "She's mine!"

Somehow, though, skekTek had managed to out-sneak the Chamberlain; he appeared at skekUng's left and hissed, "But sire!  You could drink her essence. . . ."  SkekUng, who had leaned close to skekTek to hear his murmur, grinned and crowed along with the Scientist.

"Because of the prophecy, we must kill the Gelfling!" skekZok argued.  There were a few murmurs of agreement.

"I want her head!" skekEkt called, already dreaming of what lovely adornments he could make with that long blonde hair.

"And I want the rest of her!" skekAyuk added, grinning at skekEkt from across the room and reminding him of the Gourmand's promise of roast Gelfling.

"No!" skekUng growled, glaring again at skekZok.  "First we take her essence-- _then_ kill!"

That brought cheers from the others: "Drain her first, then kill her!"  "Drain her!"  SkekZok drew back, fuming, and skekAyuk shook his head mournfully at the lost meal.

 _The meat would be flavorless after losing its essence,_ skekEkt sulked.  _And her hair will be brittle, worthless._   He cast a regretful look at the palely golden sheen, then blinked as he realized just why its color struck him so: the Gelfling shown to them by the crystal had had dark hair, hadn't it?

 _No_ , he told himself, drawing back a little as his worries came flooding back.  _There's not another Gelfling-- the reception from the Crystal Bat was poor, or else I misjudged the color_.  He knew that wasn't the case-- the Ornamentalist had _never_ misjudged  a color in his life-- but it was impossible that somehow _two_ Gelflings had survived.  _She will be killed after our greedy Emperor has her essence, and we'll be safe from the prophecy,_ skekEkt thought, trying to believe it.

The Gelfling struggled, but skekSil held her fast, apparently reconciled to following skekUng's order.

"Let's take her essence, yes," skekTek grinned as he hobbled over to her once more, snatching her from the questionable safety of skekSil's grasp.

SkekOk seemed especially excited at the prospect; perhaps he looked forward to recording an anecdote about the Emperor who demanded the last Gelfling's essence just so he could have his youth a few hours early, before the Conjunction restored all of them forever.

"Essence!" he urged.  "Drain her essence!"  SkekEkt glanced at him, then gave in and chanted with him.  After all, even if she didn't die, a weakened, essence-less Gelfling would never be able to fulfill the prophecy.  SkekTek meanwhile dragged the Gelfling away towards the Chamber of Life, leaving skekSil reaching uselessly after her.  "Take her essence!" skekOk called a final time, for good measure.

"As for the whimpering Chamberlain," skekUng snarled as skekTek left, "return his robes to him."

"Hmmmmmmmmm," skekSil beamed as he bowed to skekUng, his whimper almost a chuckle.  "Hmm, hmm!"

  


It fell, of course, to skekEkt to return the Chamberlain's robes from where he had stored them in his room, planning to use the fabric for his own clothing after the Conjunction.  He reluctantly led skekSil to his door, the Chamberlain whimpering all the way.

"Wait here," skekEkt squeaked peevishly as he opened his door, gesturing for skekSil to remain outside.

"Of course," the Chamberlain sneered.  "I wouldn't enter without an invitation."

SkekEkt ignored him and went to remove the red and black robes from his armoire, then returned to the doorway and held them out to skekSil.  "Here."

"Hmmmmmmm."  The Chamberlain took the robes and shook them out, examining them for any damage.  "I see your claws spared them.  I'm most grateful."

SkekEkt hissed at him.  "Just go!"

"Hmmmmm.  In a moment."  SkekSil folded the robes with an infuriating slowness and draped them over one of his spindly arms, then he smiled insipidly at skekEkt.  "There is something I wish to discuss with you first, Ornamentalist."

"What is it?" asked skekEkt, suspicious.

"I have a. . . hmmmm, proposition."  SkekSil stepped closer and lowered his voice.  "After the Conjunction, we will be strong again, immortal, yes?"  When skekEkt nodded, the Chamberlain went on, "My proposal is this: I intend to use this new strength to overthrow the Emperor, with you and skekAyuk as my followers."

SkekEkt gaped at him.  "You. . . you're joking!  The three of us could never be strong enough to overthrow skekUng, even after the Conjunction!"

"Of course I'm not joking," simpered skekSil.  "And although you're right about our strength, we won't _need_ strength.  This is not Trial by Stone-- it will be trial by mind.  _My_ mind, of course," he added at skekEkt's blank look.  "After the Conjunction, we will leave the castle for some time.  I will. . . hmmmm, _observe_ the Emperor and his remaining court in secrecy, for as long as it takes for me to discover his weaknesses, and then. . . ."  He grinned.  "Then we will strike at those weak places, and then _I_ will rule."

"Never!" skekEkt retorted immediately, amazed at skekSil's arrogant audacity even after a thousand trine spent observing it.  "I won't help you!  I. . . I am loyal to the Emperor!"

"Hmph!  _I_ know to whom you're loyal!" skekSil hissed, no longer simpering but vicious.  "And if you want to keep-- _mating_ with him, you'll both follow me!"

SkekEkt gave an affronted squawk.  "H-how _dare_ you say such vile things to me!"

"If you don't follow me, I'll tell your beloved Emperor," the Chamberlain went on sarcastically, ignoring skekEkt's outburst.  "I don't think he'll see your attachment to the Gourmand as tolerantly as I do-- in fact, it might even cause skekUng to question this loyalty you profess to have for him."  SkekSil leaned forward, sneering up at skekEkt.  "And if you even think of telling him about this conversation, _I'll_ tell him what I've seen you doing!"

SkekEkt brought his claws to his temples, fretting.  "But. . . but without skekAyuk and me, you'd be on your own if you left the castle!  You'd be as good as banished again."

"Oh, but in that case, if you refuse-- I _won't_ leave.  You've finally brought up an intelligent point-- if I can't lead, I might as well follow; better that than exile.  But," he continued, drawing back his mouth in his familiar smile, "if I do follow skekUng, he will depend solely on _me._ He won't trust anyone else once I tell him the truth about each of you, starting with you and your imbecile of a lover-- and believe me, I'll make your lives miserable!"

SkekEkt bristled, drawing even his delicate vestigial hands into fists at the slight to himself and skekAyuk.  "SkekUng will never listen to you!  He hates you more than anyone else!"

"But _I_ brought him a Gelfling-- I, no one else!" spat skekSil.  "After the Conjunction, if I can't be Emperor, I'll _make_ him listen to me-- depend on me!  Once he has eternal youth, he'll need me more than he needs the Scientist-- and he's already turning on the Ritual Master!  Hmmmmmmm!" he whimpered with delight.  "Did you see the anger on skekZok's face when he refused to kill the Gelfling?  I'll soon have skekUng hating that face and those beautiful eyes as much as I do!"

 _Beautiful. . . ?_   SkekEkt stared at skekSil, trying to fathom his envious ravings.  Of course, skekZok _was_ quite aesthetically pleasing-- by far the handsomest of the Skeksis-- but since when did skekSil notice such things?  _There's jealousy there,_ skekEkt realized.  _Could he want skekZok?  Maybe that's why he's so envious of skekAyuk and me-- not because he desires me, but because we have what he does not. . . ._

The thought of skekAyuk turned the Ornamentalist's thoughts back to skekSil's threat.  He glared at the Chamberlain.  "So either skekAyuk and I turn on the Emperor and follow you-- or you turn on us."

SkekSil gave a _hmmmmmmm_ of confirmation, and skekEkt growled.

"Then tell skekUng whatever you want!  Tell all of Thra!" he unconsciously echoed skekAyuk's earlier sentiments.  "I'll be banished with skekAyuk before I follow _you_ and have you breathing down my neck all the time, trying to keep me from him!"

SkekSil stared at him as if truly surprised skekEkt had had the courage to refuse him, but then he snarled in response, "As you wish, _Ornamentalist_."  He started to turn away as skekEkt watched him furiously, resenting the Chamberlain's schemes and manipulations now turned against him.

"You-- you have no right!" skekEkt squeaked after him.  "Just because _you_ can't have a lover--"  The interrupting roar that came from the Chamberlain surprised skekEkt so much, he stumbled back against his door frame.

"You think I want to be bound like you are, you weakling?" skekSil cried as he rounded on the Ornamentalist.  "He'll need me without that-- more than your Gourmand will ever need _you_!"  His sunken chest heaved as he glowered at skekEkt, his spines bristling and vestigial hands clenching as skekEkt's own had.  For a moment, skekEkt was sure the Chamberlain would physically strike him-- but then, skekSil turned and scuttled away, still seething.

SkekEkt slumped against his door frame, trembling slightly as he watched skekSil disappear down the corridor.  _"He'll need me without that". . . .  SkekUng will need him._   SkekEkt's beak slowly dropped open.  _He. . . he wants skekUng.  They hate each other, and yet. . . !_

"SkekEkt."  SkekEkt turned at the sound of skekAyuk's voice, spinning so fast his chiffon billowed behind him.  SkekAyuk was emerging from behind the decorative doorframe of a side corridor in the opposite direction from where skekSil had gone.

"SkekAyuk!"  SkekEkt ran to him, throwing his arms around the Gourmand's wide shoulders and clinging to him.  "SkekSil-- he--"

"I heard him," skekAyuk murmured, embracing skekEkt in return.  "I had come to find you, and I heard nearly all he said."  He stroked skekEkt's beak, pressed against his neck, then gently set the Ornamentalist back enough to look up at him.  To skekEkt's amazement, he was smiling.

"Maybe. . . maybe I said the wrong thing," skekEkt worried.  "If he tells the Emperor about us, and the Emperor sees us as a threat, we could be banished."

"So?  We were planning to leave anyway."  SkekAyuk pulled skekEkt's beak downward and planted a kiss on the tip, then leaned his forehead against the Ornamentalist's in their familiar gesture of affection.  "SkekEkt, I. . . thank you, thank you for making that choice, for saying he could tell the Emperor."

"You. . . you mean that? You're not angry?"

"Angry?" skekAyuk snorted, then he pulled back and looked up into skekEkt's eyes.  "You know what banishment means, don't you, if skekUng is foolish enough to listen to that whimpering Chamberlain?  We'll be stripped of our robes and driven out of the castle."

"I. . . I know," squeaked skekEkt. 

"And you'd rather have that and be with me than leave intact with the Chamberlain.  So why should I be angry that you care more about me than your pride?"

He was still smiling, and skekEkt tried to match his smile.  "And do you care more about me than your meals, Gourmand?"

SkekAyuk chuckled again.  "Yes, I daresay I'll even sacrifice my kitchens to be with you."  He embraced skekEkt again, then sobered.  "The Conjunction. . . it's almost time."

"Yes."  SkekEkt reluctantly pulled away from him and started for the stairway that would lead them to the Crystal Chamber.  "We should go."

"Wait."  SkekAyuk caught up to him and grasped his arm.  "SkekEkt, I came to find you for a reason."  He took skekEkt's gloved hands and looked up at him again, not smiling now.

"What is it?" whispered skekEkt.

"At the Conjunction, what-- whatever happens. . . ."  He blinked, slowly.  "SkekEkt, I love you."

The word skekEkt had never dared to say sounded natural, beautiful even from skekAyuk's blunt beak.  "And I love you," the Ornamentalist said without hesitating, without thinking.  Only after he had spoken did he question the wisdom of saying such things-- then immediately dismissed the question.  SkekAyuk was right; for all the others' arrogant confidence, there was no telling what the conjunction might bring, and they should know each others' feelings first.  SkekEkt _did_ love skekAyuk; he had for trine upon trine, whether love was of the dark or the light, or whether it held a little of both.

SkekAyuk nodded, then leaned up to kiss skekEkt; that was all.  They walked together down the spiraling staircase that led to the corridors outside the Crystal Chamber, neither speaking again.

\--

They were the last to join the other Skeksis in the corridor; skekSil glared at them suspiciously but said nothing.  All of the group maintained silence as they took their places in a ragged line to march to the Crystal Chamber.  They knew well what to do: they had done it once before, a thousand trine ago.  For once, skekUng conceded to skekZok; the Ritual Master led the slow procession, followed by skekUng, skekNa, and skekSil.  SkekShod and skekOk came next, with skekEkt and skekAyuk at the rear of the line.

 _Where is skekTek?_ skekEkt wondered; normally, the scuttling Scientist would be at skekUng's side.  _Even he wouldn't miss the Conjunction!_   No one else seemed to notice or care about skekTek's absence, but skekEkt knew that the Ritual Master would be well aware of a missing unit in their configuration, and that the Emperor would certainly know where the Scientist-- and the Gelfling's essence-- was.

 _SkekUng looks no younger-- he hasn't had the essence.  Something's happened to skekTek, something those two aren't telling us._ But there was no time left to wonder about the Scientist, or to worry what his disappearance meant to the prophecy.

Before entering the Crystal Chamber, they separated into groups according to their placement on the spirals and triangle surrounding the Crystal: skekZok, skekShod, skekAyuk; skekSil, skekOk, skekEkt; skekUng, skekNa.  As they slowly moved to their places, clutching their scepters, the slaves filtered in to the balconies above, ordered by skekNa to witness their masters' transformation.

When the eight Skeksis had arranged themselves about the Crystal, they raised their scepters to it.  SkekEkt gazed up into its depths, lit with the purple and mauve colors he had strived to imitate in his own robes.  The Crystal was cracked, flawed-- but it was like them, and it was beautiful.

"The Great Conjunction comes," intoned skekZok as the three suns, framed in the triangular skylight above them, moved closer and closer to one another.  The Skeksis shifted to stand in their appointed places as the Ritual Master went on, "Now we will live forever!"

"We will live forever," they echoed, each iteration growing louder.  "We will live forever!  We will live forever!"  Each time the words were spoken, skekEkt's feeble heart beat stronger with confidence and pride, with hope: Skeksis _could_ feel hope, because it is an emotion as terrible as it is beautiful.  _We **will** live forever,_ he thought.  _We will._

It was skekSil, alone of the eight remaining silent, who first saw the Gelfling.  SkekEkt saw the Chamberlain raise his wrinkled head, hearing what the others in their chanting could not until his cry cut theirs short: the yapping of a small animal.  At skekSil's startled gasp, the others broke off, looked, cried out in turn.

"Gelfling!" gasped skekNa, gaping up at the small blonde creature watching them from one of the balconies, a furry brown mutt tugging at her clothing.  SkekAyuk turned and stared, and for the first time, skekEkt saw his lover look truly worried.  The others seemed to share that feeling, for the cries of "Gelfling!" changed to shrieks of "Kill her!"

"She will destroy us!" skekOk wailed.

SkekEkt, though, was too overcome to speak.  At first, he could not even place the emotion he felt, but then he identified it as rage, pure hatred towards the horrible little monster staring down at them, even more hideous than before now that her face seemed paler and strangely aged.  He hated her as he had hated no one before, hated her for terrifying him, for letting herself be a tool in skekSil's treacherous claws, for daring to fulfill the prophecy that would destroy them all, that might keep him from skekAyuk forever more surely than the Chamberlain's guile ever could.  The Ornamentalist drew his lips back from his fangs and snarled up at the Gelfling, a purely bestial noise more terrible than any of his screeching words could have been.

"Gelfling!" roared skekZok.  "You die!"

And again, it was skekSil who turned and saw the other one, skekSil who shrieked in true surprise this time as if he might have expected the little blonde but not this one, not a dark-haired male on the balcony opposite hers.  The other seven Skeksis turned and stared: the prophecy had said nothing about _this_.

"Two Gelfling!" they cried as they hurried towards the newcomer, the one whom they had seen in the Crystal then forgotten or ignored, trusting foolishly in ignorance to keep them safe.

Only skekUng seemed capable of useful action.  "Garthim!" he called, leaving the other Skeksis to echo the word gratefully.  "Garthim!"  The Garthim scuttled out onto the balconies, one swiping at the male Gelfling.  The creature panicked and in the ultimate act of sacrilege, leapt from the balcony to land sprawling atop the Crystal.

That action confirmed what skekEkt had known all along, what they all had probably known and rejected-- that this, not the girl, was the Gelfling who would fulfill the prophecy.  As he jumped, something flashed in his hand: a Shard of Crystal, not dark and clouded like theirs but clear and pure.  The jolt of the Gelfling's landing dislodged the Shard from his grasp, and it fell to the floor below, landing on the edge of the pit beneath the Crystal.

"No!" wailed the boy even as the girl cried out.  The Skeksis stared at it stupidly a moment before they understood.

"The Shard!" cried skekUng as the others fretted and roared.  He threw down the Emperor's scepter and moved towards the new prize, the instrument of the prophecy.  "The Shard is mine!"

His claws reached for it, then scrabbled wildly as a brown blur leapt from the balcony and attached itself to his wrist.  The Shard was knocked out of his reach by his motion as he stood, holding up his arm from which the Gelfling's furry mutt dangled almost comically.

"Let go, smelly hairball!" skekUng snarled, flinging his arm towards the pit beneath the Crystal.  He was strong enough to dislodge the creature, which flew into the pit with a whimpering wail.

" _Fizzgig_!" shrieked the female Gelfling, apparently crying the name of her lost pet.  She spread her pale, almost useless wings and leapt from the balcony to the ground, narrowly escaping the grasp of the Garthim which had finally reached her.  She landed directly before the Shard, and she swept it up in her tiny hand before any of them could stop her.

"She has the Shard!" skekZok declared unnecessarily; the Skeksis were already surrounding the colorless little creature.

"Take it from her, now!" skekUng ordered them, but every time one moved towards her, the girl spun to face him, brandishing the Shard like a weapon, ready to pierce them.  Despite his earlier fierceness, skekEkt couldn't bring himself to get close to the flash of the Shard, and he only swatted his claws uselessly before him.

"Watch out, Kira!" the male Gelfling called down to her as she fairly twirled before them, the long blonde hair skekEkt had coveted swinging about her like a thousand tiny whips.  "Kira, behind you!"  Some of the Skeksis looked up at him with disinterested surprise as he addressed them directly: "No, leave her alone!"

SkekSil, however, ignored him.  "Give us the Shard," he said cajolingly to the girl, to Kira, "and you can go free."

"No!" gasped Kira even as the male agreed, naïve enough or perhaps merely desperate enough to believe the Chamberlain.

"Yes!" he pleaded.  "Just don't harm her!"

"No, Jen!" Kira refused.  She held up the Shard to him in her two small hands whose skin was as void of color as the Crystal they clutched.  "Heal the Crystal."

"Kira!" Jen wailed as she threw the Shard to him-- and as skekZok let out a roar behind her, brandishing his ceremonial dagger and sinking it into her back, directly between her wings.  He drew the dagger out again just as swiftly with a growl of satisfaction, but it was useless: Jen had caught the Shard.


	4. Chapter 4

The girl felt to the ground with a choked shriek, and the Skeksis stared.  SkekZok drew back, raising himself to his full height, yet it was he who looked the most surprised.  For all their talk, for their genocide and slavery and plotting, the Skeksis had not killed by their own hands in many trine-- if ever; SkekEkt couldn't even remember.  It was the slaves who slaughtered their domesticated meat, the Garthim who had exterminated the Gelfling.  And now at the end, when it finally came time for a Skeksis to do the rotten work of killing instead of ordering it into someone else's hands-- it was the Ritual Master who dealt death.  Not the violent General, the cruel Slave Master, even the insidious Chamberlain.  Instead, it was calm, elegant skekZok who now stared down at the fallen girl as if not quite sure how she came to be there.

She wobbled, braced on her twig-thin arms, and stared up at the other Gelfling.  "Jen. . . ." she murmured, but whatever else she wished to say was lost in a series of soft cries as her arms gave way.  She fell to the ground and lay still as the Skeksis watched her.

"Kira," Jen whispered.  Slowly their heads turned to him instead, skekEkt finding it hard to pull his eyes from the frail blonde figure dead before them.  _This is why love is too dangerous,_ he thought.  _He was going to let us succeed, let us rule forever because of his love for her. . . and she wouldn't let him because **she** loved **him**._   As skekEkt turned to face the dark Crystal and the dark Gelfling atop it, he glanced at skekAyuk, already watching Jen miserably, hopelessly.  _What would I have given up for him, if I had been asked?_   He couldn't fathom it, because it _hadn't_ ever been asked.  What he would give up, what he knew they were now going to lose, was being taken from him without asking, without the opportunity the Gelflings had to refuse, to run away or hide.

_We would have run away.  We would have gone together-- but still, we would have run._

Even as Jen raised the Shard, they protested, crying, "Gelfling, no!"  The three suns moved into their final configuration, the great sun, the red, and the dying, until they formed the eye whose gaze had birthed the Skeksis a thousand trine before and had drawn their progenitors to Thra a thousand trine before that.  The beam from that eye fell upon the Crystal.

And of course the Gelfling did not heed them-- why should he, now?  He plunged the Shard into the Crystal with a cry, then was thrown clear of it as the healed Crystal took on the suns' light.  The Skeksis' pleads turned to wails of despair as the Crystal began to sing, not the familiar discordant ringing it had once made but a pure tone that caused their tympanic membranes to ache.  SkekSil most of all tried to shield his eyes from the Crystal's light.

The Gelfling boy ignored them all; he seemed to see only Kira, beside whom skekAyuk had come to stand.  As Jen moved toward her, skekEkt was distracted by a cracking noise eerily reminiscent of the skekSo's disintegrating body.  He looked wildly up at the balconies to find the Garthim falling to pieces now that the Skeksis' will no longer held sway over the Crystal.  SkekEkt shrieked, as they all did a moment later when the entire castle began to fall around them.

SkekEkt ran for skekAyuk, who still stood near the Gelflings.  The Gourmand was by far the quietest, only moaning softly rather than screaming like the rest of them; he grasped one of skekEkt's flailing hands and held it tightly as the Ornamentalist wailed.

Then a low noise undercut the caterwaul of the Skeksis.  It was a harmonious sound yet not whole, as if some tones were missing-- two or ten.  SkekAyuk and skekEkt drew away from the Gelflings as the sound grew louder and the urRu began to trudge in through one entrance to the chamber.  SkekAyuk squeezed skekEkt's long fingers once, then dropped his hand; they separated without looking back at one another.

SkekOk screamed and ran; skekUng snarled with rage-- but the urRu ignored them, as calm and unmovable as the Skeksis were wild and panicked.  The Gelfling boy turned a tear-tracked face up to the urRu, but they ignored him too; they were focused only on the Crystal.  SkekEkt's eyes sought and found urUtt, but the Weaver never looked at him.

As the urRu placed themselves about the Crystal, urUtt in skekEkt's accustomed spot, skekEkt felt himself being drawn to it as well.  All the Skeksis were slowly pulled toward the Crystal, though most fought its power.  SkekSil shrieked in terror as the walls around them fell faster, revealing an inner core that glowed almost as brightly as the Crystal itself.  The Podling slaves ran from their balconies, minds and essence restored by the Crystal's white light; the Gelfling boy wept over Kira.

And the urRu disregarded it all.  They turned their backs to the Crystal, faced the chaos of the chamber, and waited.  As if responding to their movement, the Crystal abruptly refracted the suns' light outward, into the backs of the waiting urRu.  Their patient eyes glowed with the Crystal's light, and its beams impaled the unwilling Skeksis.

The beam was hot in skekEkt's back, as hot as the dagger must have felt between the girl Gelfling's wings.  He fought it, his arms outstretched and claws trembling, his beak open with a soundless cry; he fought it all the way.  But of course it was useless; this was the prophecy.

He heard the rustling of urUtt's robes behind him as the Weaver rose; out of the corners of his eyes, skekEkt could see the other urRu doing the same, standing straight on unbent legs for perhaps the first time so that they reached their full height, much taller than the Skeksis.  And then he felt urUtt's four long arms embrace him even as the Crystal's light pierced him.

It only took an instant for them both to be absorbed by that light, but in that last brief moment of their separation, they knew each other's thoughts, conversing far more quickly than awkward words could have allowed.

 _You could live forever too,_ skekEkt pleaded, although he doubted that even the urRu could stop the transformation now.  _You're killing yourselves as much as you're killing us._

 **We cannot live on, not in a world ruled by you,** urUtt replied calmly, without accusation or even blame at the Skeksis' actions.  SkekEkt resented that the most, the resignation in the Weaver's tone, as if he tiredly forgave skekEkt everything because he knew the Skeksis could not have acted any differently than they did.  **And why do you call this death, skekEkt?  We will still live forever, only together instead of apart.**

 _It isn't the same!_ skekEkt wailed inwardly.  _I don't want to be a part of you-- I don't want to lose myself and my feelings!_ UrUtt held him more tightly, perhaps meaning the gesture to be comforting; however, it only reminded skekEkt of skekAyuk's embrace, the touch he'd never feel again.

**You will not lose anything.  Do you not understand?  I feel what you feel. . . .**

SkekEkt's last thought came at the end of that instant, as he and urUtt were draw into one another: _SkekTek was right, then.  Not even love is wholly good or bad, not if we both can feel it._

\--

And the beginning of the next instant brought EktUtt's first thought in a thousand trine: **_We haven't lost ourselves_**.  Every memory held by skekEkt was still there-- and every memory of urUtt as well.  For a moment EktUtt could only marvel at the feeling of completeness he now felt, as if great holes in his psyche had been filled, holes he hadn't even realized had been there.

As the eight reborn urSkeks shifted, slowly bringing their long arms up into crosses over their chest, Aughra appeared on the balcony above them as if she had been conjured from the falling rocks of the castle.  She surveyed the scene below her with evident satisfaction then spoke the words of the prophecy, the words of the Skeksis' undoing:

_What was sundered and undone_   
_Shall be whole, the two made one!_

The Gelfling, Jen-- so familiar to EktUtt now that he held urUtt's memories, and yet so strange to the part of him that had been skekEkt-- stared up at the urSkeks from the ground where he crouched with the body of Kira.  The urSkeks looked back, dazed, expressionless.

"And now the prophecy is fulfilled," murmured UngIm, once Garthim-Master and Healer, then Emperor and Master, now. . . what? Perhaps both Physician and Leader.   "We are again one."

The outcome seemed to bring no joy to Jen.  He looked down sadly at the corpse he held in his arms, then he stood, carrying the body slowly towards the urSkeks.

"Many ages ago, in our arrogance and delusion, we shattered the pure Crystal," UngIm told the Gelfling as the other urSkeks watched, "and our world split apart.  Your courage and sacrifice have made us whole and restored the true power of the Crystal."

Jen gazed up at him, eyes wide.  There was still some innocence in that face, EktUtt thought, and hope.  But he remembered what skekEkt had thought only minutes before, minutes that had passed like ages: _Hope is an emotion as terrible as it is beautiful._

UngIm was silent a moment, then he breathed, "Hold her to you.  She is part of you, as we all are part of each other."  Jen bent his head over his beloved, pressing his face into her limp, bleached hair.  UngIm brought his hands together, forming a triangle with his long fingers.  He held his hands there for only an instant, but it was enough: Kira stirred, awoke.  She looked only at Jen, mindless of the creatures who had both caused her death and saved her from it.

UngIm watched them for a moment, his head tilted to one side.  EktUtt could not guess at the Physician's thoughts, but perhaps they were similar to his own: twin minds still warring, filled with both affection and revulsion for the Gelflings, rejoicing and mourning the reunion of the two halves of his soul.

But whether UngIm felt the same or not, he must have known as EktUtt did that the urSkeks could not stay on Thra.  "Now we leave you the Crystal of Truth," he told the Gelflings.  "Make your world in its light."  It was the greatest gift the urSkeks could give, possession of this manifestation of the Crystal they had traveled so far to find.  And yet, EktUtt thought that it seemed a poor reparation to a world they had nearly destroyed, to those two innocent, lost creatures whose race was dead, who would be left in loneliness with only Aughra to guide them.

 ** _But she is a fitter guide than us,_** EktUtt thought. **_She was here before us, as eternal as the rocks.  She is Thra, and she will serve it far better than we did._**

The Gelflings did not answer UngIm; Kira smiled up at them all in forgiving wonder, but Jen's face held some reserve.  He wasn't _all_ innocence and hope, not anymore.  **_May he learn from us which mistakes not to make. . . ._**

The urSkeks lowered their folded hands to their sides and turned to face the Crystal.  The part of EktUtt that had been skekEkt felt an aching regret at leaving the treasures of this world behind-- his beautiful fabrics, his designs and creations.  **_But now I am the Designer once more,_** the other part of him comforted.  **_I will create again._**

As they called upon the Crystal to give them flight, the urSkeks let their corporeal bodies dissolve, translated into energy, to light.  They could recall their bodies again when they found their next resting place, but the intervening journey could not be made with physical forms.  They might still be traveling when the next Conjunction graced Thra, a thousand trine hence-- or they might find their new home in the space of one heartbeat, one breath shared between the Gelflings who still watched them in silence.

Until then, the Crystal would be their guide, leading them to a world where another facet of it could be found.  The Crystal existed on many such worlds, and the urSkeks had only been forced to leave two of them. . . so far.

 ** _Somewhere, we can make our home,_** EktUtt thought.  He rose with the others, orbs of light that circled and chased one another as they drifted up away from the Crystal, towards the three suns.  Opposite him, the light that was AyukAmaj twinkled.

 ** _My love, you are a part of me.  I promised I'd stay with you even if you didn't change-- and I'll stay with you still, now that we have changed forever.  Whatever you feel for me now-- I love you._**  They had become again words EktUtt didn't dare say, but someday, perhaps he would find the courage the speak them once more.

As they reached the ceiling of the castle, the urSkeks joined together to make their long journey as one.  EktUtt felt all of them around him, eight from what was once eighteen: UngIm, ZokZah, SilSol, NaNol, OkAck, ShodYod. . . and AyukAmaj, pressed close against him.  Aughra, the Gelflings, and the world that had been theirs for two thousand trine were soon far behind them as the urSkeks sought their new home in another world, another time.

\--

The End


End file.
